The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry

The U.S. Backs Off Nuclear Power. Georgia Wants to Keep Building Reactors, NYT, By BRAD PLUMER, AUG. 31, 2017 WASHINGTON — Even as the rest of the United States backs away from nuclear power, utilities in Georgia are pressing ahead with plans to build two huge reactors in the next five years — the only nuclear units still under construction nationwide.

On Thursday, Georgia Power asked state regulators to approve its proposal to complete the reactors at the Alvin W. Vogtle generating station near Augusta, home to two existing nuclear units built in the 1980s. The company, which has partnered with three other utilities on the project, said it expected the new reactors would cost roughly $19 billion and come online in 2021 and 2022.

In July, South Carolina utilities abandoned efforts to build two similar reactors, advanced designs known as AP1000s, after delays and cost overruns associated with the project caused local utility bills to soar. That decision left Georgia as the American nuclear industry’s sole hope for an expansion in the near term……

it is not certain that the Georgia reactors, first proposed in 2006, will actually be finished. In its filing, Georgia Power said that completion of the project depended on Congress extending a federal tax credit for new reactors. The company is also counting on $3.7 billion in payments from Toshiba, the parent company of Westinghouse, as part of the latter’s bankruptcy agreement…..

Critics noted that the Vogtle project could still be plagued by cost overruns, which would be passed on to ratepayers. The AP1000 is a novel reactor design, reported to have more safety features than previous models, and engineers have so far struggled with the project. Construction began before Westinghouse had finalized its design, and several safety changes had to be made midway through the process that pushed costs far past the initial estimates of $14 billion……

Utilities in other states have found the cost of large new reactors prohibitive. Last week, Duke Energy Florida announced it would spend $6 billion expanding solar power while abandoning plans for a nuclear plant in Levy County estimated to cost as much as $22 billion.